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Starred Review. Better known for New Weird fantasies (Perdido Street Station, etc.), bestseller Miéville offers an outstanding take on police procedurals with this barely speculative novel. Twin southern European cities Beszel and Ul Qoma coexist in the same physical location, separated by their citizens' determination to see only one city at a time. Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad roams through the intertwined but separate cultures as he investigates the murder of Mahalia Geary, who believed that a third city, Orciny, hides in the blind spots between Beszel and Ul Qoma. As Mahalia's friends disappear and revolution brews, Tyador is forced to consider the idea that someone in unseen Orciny is manipulating the other cities. Through this exaggerated metaphor of segregation, Miéville skillfully examines the illusions people embrace to preserve their preferred social realities. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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ISBN-10: 0345497511
ISBN-13: 978-0345497512
Author: China Mieville
Publisher: Del Rey

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review by RebeccaSchinsky. December 16, 2010

Mindbending, Genre Busting, and Totally Fantastic...Sci-Fi Lite for Lit Fic Readers

Oh, this book! It. Is. So. Good. Where to start? At its core, China Miéville's The City and The City is a police procedural. But it is so much more than that. In the opening scene, main character Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad is called to a crime scene, where he discovers the body of an unknown woman (referred to as Fulana Detail, the Beszel version of "Jane Doe"), who, at first glance, seems to be a prostitute. I … more

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review by RebeccaSchinsky. December 10, 2010

posted in The Book Lady's Blog

Mindf@#kery of the Highest Order

Oh, this book! It. Is. So. Good. Where to start? At its core, China Miéville’s The City and The City is a police procedural. But it is so much more than that. In the opening scene, main character Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad is called to a crime scene, where he discovers the body of an unknown woman (referred to as Fulana Detail, the Beszel version of “Jane Doe”), who, at first glance, seems to be a prostitute. I know, I know. … more

Comments (2) Compliments (24)

review by Jarucia. February 24, 2010

Too Much Like Contemporary Art...

...it's difficult for me to understand the motive and, therefore, difficult for me to appreciate. I started this book months ago and put it down over a dozen times in favor of other books with more interesting plots, characters or meaningful (to me) writing. I picked the book up again recently and read another 30-odd pages till I reached the halfway point...I thought maybe it was me, but in the end I decided it was not. It's not … more

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review by cdbaker. May 04, 2009

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Excellent Murder Mystery in a Netherworld

China Mieville is one of the more clever writers in any genre. In The City and the City he as written a murder mystery, but one in a place like no other. The cities of Beszel and Ul Qoma reside in the same temporal space connected by crosshatches. And in-between is a shadowy nowhere, the Breach. The boundaries of the two cities are strictly enforced, mostly, so the citizens of each city have learned to "unsee" the other city to avoid entering the wrong temporal space that would put them in Breach. … more

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see all The City & The City reviews (4)

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